Also claims many refused cash altogether and simply wanted to "do the right thing."
The Business Software Alliance (BSA), a nonprofit trade association "created to advance the goals of the software industry and its hardware partners," and which is "dedicated to promoting a safe and legal digital world, paid a total of $136,100 in rewards to 42 individuals for verifiable tips about software piracy.
The global software industry group reported the full-year payout numbers for its “Know it, Report it, Reward it” program, under which individuals who provide qualified reports of software piracy – that is, the use of illegally copied software – are eligible to receive up to $1 million in cash rewards.
Interestingly, the BSA claims that despite the opportunity to receive the cash rewards, many of BSA’s informants opted out of the reward program. In an informal survey conducted by the BSA, many cited their motivation as simply to “do the right thing.”
“BSA’s $1 million reward program has helped raise awareness about the prevalence and dangers of software piracy,” said BSA Vice President of Anti-Piracy and General Counsel Neil MacBride. “The risks of piracy include reduced computer performance, potential investigations and litigation, significant financial penalties, and security breaches in business networks.”
It also warns that there may be an increase in software piracy in 2009 as some IT managers attempt to stretch thinning department budgets due to the economic downturn.
“When business is down and IT budgets are stretched thin, some managers may be tempted to cut corners, leading to increased use of unlicensed software in their businesses,” explained MacBride. “This is a terrible mistake because in the long run, companies stand to lose more money from being caught than they saved by installing unauthorized copies of software. Further, unlicensed software may increase a business’ exposure to dangers such as viruses and malware. Experience shows it is better to obey the law and employ Software Asset Management (SAM) programs to derive the most value from their software purchases.”
There have already been signs of a possible increase in online piracy during the past year. During the second half of 2008, the BSA asked Internet auction site providers such as eBay to take down more than 20,832 auctions (up 67% from 2007) involving 170,617 software products (up 92% from 2007) worth a combined $84,777,986. During the same period, BSA issued more than 71,982 takedown notices to BitTorrent sites regarding peer-to-peer files that were being used by as many as 795,500 people to download software worth an estimated $500,862,366. Takedown notices aimed at other Internet sources of pirated software reached a record 930,271 in the period.
jared@zeropaid.com
Related Posts
- Rewards for piracy tips
- Software Piracy Costs Exceeds 50 Billion
- BSA: $1 Billion in Software Illegally Shared on BitTorrent
- Reward for turning in software pirates
- Software Piracy Remains Widespread
Loading ...
Those who didn’t accept the payouts did not want to pay taxes on said payouts.
Damn I wish I knew about this program when I bought a copy of Advanced Wars on Amazon and found it was a AGB-004 cart. It was cheap but I thought I was buying a legit copy and it was just a pirate copy. I wasn’t too happy because I already have a rom loader for my DS to play GBA games on. I just wanted to own the damn thing properly.
BSA has no business interest in video games so you can’t get a payout. These payouts are only for people who report companies using unlicensed business software from certain vendors (Microsoft etc.)
oic……